Link-Worthy Content Beyond Infographics

Last Updated on April 8, 2016

When something becomes popular in online marketing it tends to stick. Everyone gives it a try and suddenly this technique is the next big thing, and people forget that there are still other ways of attracting links and social shares. Infographics definitely tick this box.

It’s true that a good infographic that tells a good story can still attract some extremely strong links, but the novelty factor has long since worn off. I thought it would be really interesting to put together a post discussing a few other pieces of fun content you can build for roughly the same cost as an infographic. If nothing else, thinking outside the box is going to help you get noticed!

Build a Quiz

When you’re building content to attract shares and build up a bit of buzz, there’s always going to be bonus points for creating something your audience can get involved with. We’ve all seen the quizzes where you can see how closely matched you are to your partner; and then of course because the answers funny you’re incentivised to share it with all your friends. The key to success here is making it easy and fun for people to share the result. Building something like this can be pretty cost effective and requires a little bit of development time, but if you can make the end result funny enough the social shares should be well worth while!

Resources

Where infographics are used to visualize data and tell a story; resources appeal because they serve a purpose and make someone’s day that little bit easier. Choosing what to build can be tough and really depends on finding that magic idea, making sure no ones done it before and of course development time and cost. This is an area where you can go really mad and end up spending a fortune.

However, if you’re smart you should be able to find an idea that doesn’t cost the earth to build. How about things such as work templates, travel guides, downloadable music charts and so on? If you’re giving something useful away for free, some clever sites will ask you to tweet or share a link first. Not a bad way of rapidly building up exposure!

Interactive Infographics

Obviously there is still a market for infographics, and they certainly aren’t ‘dead’ as some people might want you to believe. However, the internet is definitely starting to become a little saturated with them; so it does help to create something a little bit more special. Building an interactive infographic will certainly cost more money and time, however the success rate is likely to be much greater. The interactive element could be anything really – from including links to relevant sources within the graphic; or having the data change when users select different options. The sky’s the limit!

Video Interviews

Filming video interviews with specialists in your field can be a fantastic way to build up exposure and get a wider audience talking about you. What typically happens when you interview someone is that they will naturally want to tell their existing audience about it. Suddenly you’re being put in front of a much bigger group of people that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to reach.

The more status your interviewee has, the greater the effect! The key to success here is carefully selecting the right person to interview. Some people will only want to do the interview and won’t have the time (or willingness) to promote it. That’s perfectly fine, but you really want to be choosing people who are more likely to tweet and share the content.

Calculators

Creating special calculators can be a brilliant way to make link worthy content in ‘dull’ industries. If you’re working in finance, pensions, mortgages or anything like that – creating fun content can seem like a challenge. However, there’s a ton of people looking to calculate how much they’re new salary will pay them after tax; or how much interest they can expect to receive if they save $xx,xxx for the next ten years. These are all really common questions and if you can build a tool which reliably helps people get the best answer – you’re going to start attracting links.

Hopefully this post has given you some food for thought. The main rule when creating content is to build something that’s either useful or invokes some form of reaction. One last thing; if you’re spending hard earned cash on content, please make sure you research your ideas first. Good luck!

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Posted by:Jon Quinton

Jon is passionate about creating great content that people find useful. He’s run various websites for the past six years and currently owns Online Guitar Lessons. If you’ve ever fancied picking up the guitar and strumming out a few tunes, take a look at their range of lessons including tips on how to tune your guitar and learning to read TAB.